Helping the Traditional Church Have a Burning Heart for the things of God in the Scriptures – Luke 24:32

Bible Reading Plan(s) for 2013

“But Jesus answered them, ‘You are wrong, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.’ And when the crowd heard it, they were astonished at his teaching.” (Matthew 22:29-33)

In this text, Jesus is ripping into the religious leaders because they had no clue about the power of God. They had no clue about the Scriptures. They ‘knew’ the Scriptures sure enough. . . they ‘knew’ them according to their own interpretation, not according to God’s big picture and plan. They wanted the Scriptures to submit to them, instead of submitting to the Scriptures as God’s Word for them.

One of the indictments against them was that they didn’t factor in the totality of Scripture. They were thinking about the parts, without factoring in the whole.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t ever want Jesus to have to say to me, “Matt, you are wrong. You know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.” Yikes!

To avoid this, we must know the Word. This week is an incredible time to put together an intentional plan to read the Bible through in 2013. Doing so will allow you to learn more and more and more about God; be right about interpreting the Scriptures (unlike the religious leaders in Jesus’ day); and know more of the power of God.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I read the Bible through chronologically in 2012 for the first time and LOVED it. I highly recommend George Guthrie’s compilation.

Justin Taylor, over at the Gospel Coalition blog, has done the evangelical church a TREMENDOUS favor by assembling a massive list of various ways to read the Bible through in 2013. Click here and it will take you right to his post. He links to just about every possible way imaginable for reading the Bible through – in one year, two years, or even longer. If you are thinking about giving it a try, or wanting to look at a different way to approach your daily Bible reading, read through his list.

Blog’s Purpose

Like the men on the Emmaus Road in Luke 24, I long to help "church people" who have a knowledge of the Scriptures experience anew, or for the first time, the risen Christ in their heart. As these men experienced "burning hearts," so I long for traditional church people to have "heart burn" in a different, non-traditional sense. I hope this blog is a small means to help hearts burn for God as they better understand His Word.

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